Broken Little Poppet
by AppleCiderr
Summary: When Natasha told Steve that Tony was compromised and needed to be hidden from Ross, he agreed, thinking he would know what to expect. But he could have never expected Natasha to show up with Tony Stark in the form of a doe-eyed little four year old. This could only escalate from here
1. Chapter 1

_**Full Summary:**_

 _ **When Natasha told Steve that Tony was compromised and needed to be hidden from Ross, he agreed, thinking he would know what to expect.**_

 _ **But he could have never expected Natasha to show up with Tony Stark in the form of a doe-eyed little four year old.**_

 _ **This could only escalate from here**_

 _ **Enjoy~!**_

– – – – – –

Steve remembered when he first got the call from Natasha.

It had been about six months since he and Tony had fought in Serbia, and he had sent the flip phone to him. They hadn't spoken since then. T'Challa had given them asylum, the rest of the world had no clue where the 'Ex-Avengers' were hiding. That was all okay with Steve, safety for his teammates and Bucky was number one priority now. In fact, he almost forgot about giving the phone to Stark.

That was, until it rang.

It had been a casual day, Steve had just finished visiting Bucky, whom was going to be out of the cyro chamber for about a month or two while the doctors tested new discoveries to see if they would help remove the Winter Soldier. He had gone back to his room, and heard a ringing.

Instantly, fear shot through his heart. He hadn't seen anything dangerous happen lately, despite the fact most of the villains that had been attacking saw the Accords as the perfect way to get through the Avengers. Tony hadn't called him, ever, not even when things got really dangerous. Something really had to be wrong for him to call now.

He quickly flipped the phone open, bringing it to his ears. "Stark?" He asked, trying to keep his voice calm. "I-Is everything okay?"

For a moment, there was silence. It made Steve a little frustrated, and for a moment he wondered if this with a prank. If it was, he wasn't amused.

" _Steve,_ " Said a voice, a familiar voice that wasn't Stark.

"Natasha?" He asked, apprehension creeping into his tone. "Why do you have this phone? Where is Stark?"

 _"_ _ **Tony**_ _is why I'm calling you,"_ Natasha continued, _"I knew about the phone for a while, Steve, even though Tony didn't want me to. That's not what's important though. Tony has been.. Compromised.. He's in a very fragile state, and if Ross finds Tony while he's like this.."_

It only took a few seconds for Steve to catch on. "You want us to hide Tony until he recovers?" He asked,"Why would we need to hide him from Ross?" He would have expected Tony and Ross to be the best of friends by now.

 _"_ _Tony has been trying to get Ross arrested for what he did to you guys, Bruce, and countless others, and trying to make the Accords more fair to heroes, Ross isn't very happy with him right now, but that's not the point Rogers"_ Steve winced at the tone her voice had taken. _"Tony may never recover from this.. We can't figure out how to fix what happened.."_

"What did happen-"

Natasha snapped firmly, _"_ _Rogers_ _, if you want to know let me bring Tony there for safety. I don't have much time, okay? What is your answer, yes or no?"_

Part of Steve wanted to deny letting Stark hide in Wakanda, mainly because of Bucky. Would Tony attack them again? Was this all some elaborate scheme with Ross to get Bucky in their hands? _No no, Steve, slow down._ He reminded himself that Tony had known that Steve was in Wakanda, but never told the UN. If he really wanted to, he could have sold them out long ago. Plus, if Tony was really as indisposed as Natasha was saying, he wouldn't be able to do anything.

"Okay, we'll hide him for now," Steve agreed,"But if he does anything the others don't like, or tries to get at Bucky in any way-"

 _"_ _Believe me, Rogers, he won't,"_ Natasha said, _"I'll bring him soon, and.. Well you all will see what I mean by compromised"_ The phone clicked, and Steve sighed, how was he going to explain this to the others?

Walking out, he found Clint playing Mario Kart with Sam, Wanda was sitting nearby with hot chocolate, and Scott had settled next to Sam, totally not dropping hints that he wanted a turn. It reminded Steve painfully of the old team nights they used to have when they were still.. Well, a team.

Steve didn't want to ruin the serene mood. While Scott and Sam weren't really.. Infuriated at Tony, Clint and Wanda sure were. Maybe he could find a way to hide Stark.. Or at least smooth everything out when the time came.

T'Challa wasn't at the palace right now, he was busy with lots of things, they didn't see him often. When they did, however, they made sure to show him upmost respect, so he hoped that Tony would do the same.

Of course, he really knew what to expect. Tony Stark was an asshole, he didn't think before he spoke, he was a narcissistic. Even if he really was trying to help with the Accords, he'd probably come here and be nothing but a huge, rude nuisance to everyone.

Yep, Steve knew what to expect. He was ready for Stark to show himself, he'd be sure to keep him in his place.

– – – – – – –

This is not what he was prepared for..

This is _not_ what he was expecting.

Jaw dropped, blue eyes wide as saucers, he stared at Natasha. Her hair had changed again, it was now in a pixie cut, still red, her skin was tanned, blue contacts in her eyes. But her appearance wasn't what was confusing him, it was what she was carrying in those tan arms.

There was a tiny little boy curled up in her arms. He had curly, disheveled brown hair, pale skin, and was asleep in her arms. He was wearing a red hoodie with black pajama pants, his scrawny arm hugging a Captain America plushy to his chest.

"I-Is that.. Stark?" He stuttered out, hoping Natasha would suddenly smirk and tell him that this was some elaborate joke. But he wasn't a fool, he knew Natasha, he also knew she was holding a tiny Tony Stark.

Natasha nodded. "Yes, he got changed, it happened on one of the latest missions. I need you to hide him, please, at least until we can find a way to change him back, if there is one," She told him firmly.

Steve, feeling uncomfortable, he replied,"I.. I didn't sign up for this.. Natasha do you know how how hard it will be to hide him here?"

"He's four years old, Steve. Tony was forty six, nobody will recognize him. You agreed to help him, and you owe me," She snapped back firmly,"I let you and Barnes go, you owe me at least this. You owe him this"

Steve knew she was right, he owed her, he owed Tony, especially after leaving him in Serbia. Besides, he was a kid. Looking at the peaceful face, asleep with no sign of stress, he asked,"Does he remember us?"

"No, he doesn't," She replied simply,"He's not going to try anything Steve, I promise. Please, just protect him, take care of him until we can figure this out"

Steve nodded, afraid what may escape from his mouth if he spoke, before awkwardly reaching out to take the child from her.

"No, I'm waking him up first and talking to him," She told him,"He trusts me, I'm not going to leave him with you guys without telling him where I'm going"

"B-but.. I didn't tell the others.." Steve awkwardly said, gaining a glare from his old teammate. He felt his face going red with shame.

Shifting the slipping child in her arm, she firmly replied,"Well, that's your fault" She maneuvered around him, walking into their hideout with the confidence of king T'Challa himself.

The second Clint, whom was reading the news on a tablet, saw her, he frowned. "Natasha," He said firmly,"Why are you here? And who is that?" He stood up, going to examine the child, blinking in surprise when Natasha pulled him closer to her chest in a protective way.

Steve flinched at the glare Natasha sent his way, realizing she wanted him to respond. "It's.. It's Tony.. Tony Stark," He finally said.

For several moments, nobody moved. Then, Clint snorted. "Is this a joke?!" He snapped, voice raising with each word. His loud tone jerked awake the child in Natasha's arms, his blue eyes looking around in confusion.

It surprised Steve a little, as he firmly remembered Tony's eyes being brown, after all he could have stared at them all day before all this happened. He wanted to question Natasha about it, but the situation was super tense, and he didn't want to get his throat slit.

Tony seemed frightened by Clint's voice, his tiny hand clutching to Natasha's shirt and other hand squeezing his plushy. He looked at Clint, frightened, before hiding his face in the woman's shoulder. His scrawny shoulders were shaking.

"No, Clint, this isn't a joke," She said firmly,"I don't joke. On the last mission, this happened. Ross knows Tony is trying to get him arrested, if he found Tony in this state, he may try and make it so we can't find a way to change him back and put Ross where he belongs, we need to keep him safe"

Clint slammed down the tablet, snapping,"I don't give a flying fuck what Stark is trying to do! After everything he already did to us, putting us in the raft, putting Wanda in a strait jacket?! I don't have to do anything for him!"

"He's a child, Clint, he doesn't remember doing any of that!" Natasha snapped back, causing Tony to flinch in her arms, she stopped talking and looked back down at the child, placing a comforting hand on his back.

Steve decided to butt in, he firmly exclaimed,"Clint, it's already been decided, Tony is staying, okay?" 

Clint released a frustrated huff of air, getting up and walking away from the group in a hurry. Natasha sent a look that could murder an entire country, and then looked back down at Tony. He stared up at her, blue eyes filled with an innocence that Steve wasn't used to seeing.

Natasha knelt down, placing the tiny child down. He seemed to be even smaller than Steve first thought, as Natasha took his small hands in her own. " _малютк,_ I can't keep you safe anymore, so my.. Acquaintances will be taking care of you from now on, okay?"

The small child nodded, before moving forward, cupping his hands around his mouth and whispering into her ear. Natasha listened intently, before nodding and replying,"Yes, I will come back and visit, don't worry" She kissed his forehead and stood, sending a fierce glare at Steve.

"If anything happens to him, Rogers, I will deliver all of you on the steps of the raft gift wrapped, understand?" She hissed, before her features softened. "Please, Rogers, don't hurt him anymore, okay?"

Steve nodded firmly, resisting the urge to salute. "I promise, Natasha," He declared, voice strong and brave. Natasha just nodded, placing a comforting hand on Tony's messy head before turning to the door.

The small child watched her go, he seemed like he was resisting the urge to run back to Natasha, before he looked up at Steve.

It was hard to believe it was Tony. With those large, innocent blue doe-eyes, dark curly hair, and tiny stature. If it wasn't for Natasha's words, and the similarities between the older Tony and this one, he wouldn't believe her.

But he still didn't know what to do.. Natasha had left, this child, Tony Stark, was not under his protection. Steve had never had a kid, none of the people he knew ever had a kid when he was younger. Clint had kids, but Steve didn't have much time to play with them, and they were older than this Tony. What was he supposed to do? 

He moved forward, ignoring the flinch, and picking Tony up. He placed the tiny boy on the stool and then said,"Um.. Stay here until I get back, don't move okay?" 

Those innocent eyes stared still, before he inclined his head the tiniest bit, nodding. Steve felt a little bad, but he turned and left the room quickly. He didn't know what to do, maybe he could find something to distract him? He'd find something, the kid would be alright without him for a few minutes.

Little Tony watched the tall man go, before bringing his sock covered feet to the stool. He looked around, there was nobody around, he felt a little lonely, but he wasn't going to move.

He looked down at the Captain America stuffy he had, Ms. Natasha had given it to him. Feeling upset, he hugged it tightly, thinking of the man that had yelled at him and called him mean things. He was confused, why did the man already hate him?

He released his tight hold on the stuffy, looking down at it once more before whispering,"Don't be upset, Cap'n.. I know they hate us.. But it will work this time.." 

"Daddy told me not to bother people with my stupid problems.. That I should listen more.. Maybe they'll like me if I do that.. Dad said that would work.. If I listened more I wouldn't be stupid.."

Tony sighed, deciding to start listening to his father's advice now. He would stay where the tall man told him to, until he came back and gave Tony something so he could be useful. That's all he knew how to do for grownups after all.


	2. Chapter 2

It seemed that the tall man was kind of a liar, since he was still gone, and it had been a lot longer than a few minutes. Tony was only four, but he could count up to five thousand- though his dad said that he was still going to slow on learning to count -and he had already lost track of his numbers. He gave up after counting to five thousand a second time. It was good practice but it got old fast.

He swung his little legs up and down, watching as the lights in the room and out the window began to dim. He lifted the Captain America doll in his hands, staring at it. His Cap'n was upset, he was getting bored. Okay, maybe Tony was too, but he was afraid to get down.

Tony decided to make his own fun, as he imagined things. He imagined himself flying around the world, as his Captain America toy turned into the real thing, and they were superheros together. They were flying, and then there was a huge monster, but then Captain hugged it and the monster was nice afterwards.

The blue eyed child imagined a time where Captain America was injured, and Tony stopped the bad guys and gave him a band aid, and Captain hugged him. Then, his dad showed up and told Tony that he was really proud, and that he was as amazing as Captain America. He felt so happy in that moment, like the world couldn't be better.

But then, Tony heard footsteps. A shy gasp escaped his mouth, as he jerked his head to look where he heard it, squeezing his stuffed animal tightly. Was that the tall man again? Tony didn't know, but instead of turning any more to get a good view, he just froze. He was unsure of what else he should do in that moment.

He wasn't the only one who wasn't sure what to do, as T'Challa certainly wasn't expecting to see a small child sitting on a stool, all alone. In fact, he froze for a moment too, causing the two servants behind him to stop as well. The piercing eyes of the child seemed to glow for a moment, but T'Challa wrote it off as his imagination.

The two servants seemed slightly confused at the child's presence, muttering to each other in Wakandan. T'Challa raised a hand to stop their talking, noticing the child's flinch in fear. Something about this little boy.. Seemed familiar. Though, T'Challa couldn't seem to put his finger on it just now. Instead, he slowly approached the child.

"Hello," He began in English, noticing that the child was clutching something tightly in his arms. T'Challa's deep voice seemed to make the child shudder even more, and he moved forward a little more, softly saying,"My name is T'Challa, what' your name?"

The shy child blushed, his blue eyes staring down at the item he was holding, before be looked up at T'Challa again. It seemed he was unable to rouse up the courage to speak again, as he blushed even worse and hid his head in his knees.

"T-Tony.." He whispered eventually, and inwardly, T'Challa felt his heart beating in surprise. Tony? Surely this wasn't a coincidence, Tony Stark had gone missing not even two days ago, and there was a child with the name of Tony in his palace?

When T'Challa didn't say anything, Tony looked down fearfully, wondering if maybe he wasn't supposed to speak at all. Maybe it was a test from his dad and he had failed it..

"Why are you all alone, Tony?" He asked softly. _Another question?_ Tony felt slightly suspicious, but looked down at his toes. He wiggled them from inside the red socks, and them looked up at T'Challa again.

"Tall man told m'not t'move," Tony replied quickly, his voice was soft and adorable, and T'Challa would have smiled if it weren't for the term 'Tall man'.

"Did this 'tall man' have blonde hair and blue eyes?"

Tony was slightly confused by the question, but nodded again, wanting to not get in trouble. He nodded slightly, shuddering at the sight of annoyance in T'Challa's eyes. He hugged his stuffy once more as the man turned to the two people in the doorway, talking in a way Tony couldn't understand. He listened with curiosity, but wasn't able to discern anything.

T'Challa ordered the servants to prepare a room for the child, and felt a small amount of amusement at the sight of the curiosity in Tony's tired eyes. He was slumped, and looked cramped on the stool. Feeling slightly annoyance towards Steve, he said,"You can come down now, it is alright"

The small child wanted to deny him, tell him that the tall man was the one who put him here, and Tony didn't want him to be mad if he came back and Tony wasn't there. But Tony was extremely sore, and he felt really tired, he wanted to get down. Maybe if the tall man came back, T'Challa would defend him.

Slowly, Tony slipped off the tall stool, holding Cap'n underneath his arm as he slid all the way to the ground. He looked up at T'Challa, his tiny form wobbling a bit from exhaustion.

Reaching out a hand, T'Challa said,"Come, child, I'll take you to a bedroom where you can rest, I'm sure today has been stressful for you"

Though the day had been stressful, and Tony wanted to listen, the thought of 'bedtime' made his nose scrunch up slightly as he looked up at the King. T'Challa wasn't surprise, he was four after all, T'Challa himself remembered trying to run away at bedtime.

"Would you like to do something before you go to bed? I think I may have a few puzzles from my childhood, are you good at puzzles, Tony?" He asked, noticing the servants coming back out of the corner of his eyes.

The small child blushed, before shrugging slightly, and reaching out for T'Challa's hand. The man led him through the large palace, and Tony looked around, awed. There were wide, but dutifully constructed arches. There were carvings of panthers in the walls and in the décor, and a mostly tan color scheme with several different colored fabrics. Tony thought it was very pretty.

T'Challa took him to a room with an extremely large bed, one side of the room was ceiling to floor windows, the covers were black and they were pulled back, the white pillows fluffed up. The bed looked very comfortable, and Tony found a small yawn coming from his mouth. He brought his small hand up to cover his mouth, as a squeak escaped him in the last moments of the yawn.

It was extremely adorable, and T'Challa smiled towards him. Tony stared at him for a moment, curling his toes, but smiled softly back. A blush began to crawl up his cheeks, before he pulled the covers to hide himself.

This man was being very nice to him, and Tony felt a slight, very small amount of encouragement. Maybe he could ask this man questions and he wouldn't get mad? He really wanted to.. But as his eyes began to droop, he decided he would maybe wait until tomorrow to ask questions.

T'Challa was not at all surprised by the curiosity in Tony's eyes, he had expected Tony Stark to be the kind of child who wanted to learn anything he could, always asking questions, and chatting happily about the smallest things. So far, only one of those seemed to be true. The boy was painfully shy, and it seemed that the Captain found that it was okay to leave a four year old child by themselves. It did not matter if this child was Tony Stark or not, he was still a child.

As Tony fell asleep, T'Challa made sure he was covered in the blanket, his Captain America stuffy still held firmly in his arms. Once he felt satisfied, he stood and turned to the servant waiting in the door. "Please make sure that he is not left alone again, when he wakes up please come find me, I will be sure to have a word with Rogers before he wakes up again," He said firmly.

The servant nodded, though T'Challa remained in his spot until the child truly fell into slumber. It seemed the child was too exhausted to even think about the puzzles T'Challa had mentioned earlier, since once his eyes were closed he didn't open them again.

Standing up, he walked out of the room and back to the room he found Tony in. Funny enough, the very person whom T'Challa's rage was targeted at happened to be in that room, looking rather panicked. Steve was picking around the room, lifting things up and looking for what T'Challa could only guess was Tony.

T'Challa cleared his throat, causing the super soldier to turn and face him. He still looked panicked, bringing his hands down and twiddling his thumbs awkwardly. "Um.. Hey T'Challa… Have you by any chance seen a little kid running around?" He asked.

Still angry, T'Challa crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow, simply staring. Steve took a breath, and continued,"I- I was going to explain everything to you about him when you came back, I swear, I just need your help finding him"

"Tony is asleep in a room next to mine, Rogers, he was very exhausted after being left alone on a stool for lord knows how long," T'Challa snarled, venom in his voice as Steve blinked in surprise, realizing T'Challa found him first. His face flushed with shame.

Running a hand through his blonde hair, Steve awkwardly tried to defend himself. "I was going to come back, I swear, but I had to go explain it to everyone else, and they were pretty mad-"

"They're adults, Steve, they can handle themselves. They'll get over it. What I'm mad about is the fact you left a CHILD all by themselves, not telling them when they would get back. It doesn't matter if that child is Tony Stark or not, that doesn't mean he's not a child. You're very lucky he didn't get off that stool," T'Challa snarled in reply.

Steve blinked in surprise, blonde eyebrows raising. "He didn't even move?" He asked,"I'd have expected that, with the way Stark acts as an adult, he'd been even worse as a child.."

"That just shows how biased you are towards him, Rogers," T'Challa replied, a hint of a snarl in his tone. "I will be taking charge as his main caretaker for now, but we must all take care of him together. I owe it to him, and so do you. You're lucky I don't want to wake him, or else this conversation would be much louder," He threatened.

Steve, realizing he probably shouldn't anger the person who was keeping him and his team safe from everyone whom was after them. So he nodded, lowering his head and apologizing quietly. They separated after that, deciding that there was nothing else they could say to each other that might end in an argument.

– – – – – –

Tony woke up the next morning alone. It was okay, he was used to it. He was four, but his dad expected him to be up and ready to work in the lab if he was allowed to. A lot of times he didn't get to the lab in time, he would even skip breakfast, but his dad said he was still too late. Oh well, he'd try again next time.

But now his mommy and dad weren't here anymore, at least that's what Ms. Natasha said. He was a little upset about that, but Stark men don't cry, so he just nodded. Ms. Natasha seemed confused by his response, and worried, but he just ignored it.

Opening his eyes, he examined the room curiously. It was big, but with only simple things. Like the bed, which had red covers that kept his feet warm. The carpet was tan, while the walls were a cream color. It was relaxing, and it felt nice to wake up and not be in a panic.

He looked down, feeling relief that his Cap doll was still there. He scooped it up, hugging it tightly. Tony found that he could really only feel safe if he had his Captain doll with him.

Captain suddenly spoke, saying they should go explore. "No, Cap'n, I don't think T'Talla would be happy with us leaving the room.." He whispered in response. He remembered the man talking about puzzles, and hope squirmed in Tony's stomach. Maybe T'Challa would want to play with Tony?

However, then Tony slumped sadly. No, he probably wouldn't. Adults were always busy, he probably had no time for Tony's stupid, childish needs. Dad always told him that he was just putting up with him until he was old enough for boarding school, Tony always assumed that the other adults thought the same things. Especially since the tall man left and didn't come back, he probably hated being stuck with Tony..

Tony grunted, crawling to the end of the bed. It was kinda high, but he managed to slide down and onto his feet. He looked around the room, noticing a bookshelf. Walking towards it, he shifted Captain to one arm while pulling out one of the smaller books.

He opened it up, but frowned. The words were unfamiliar, and squiggly, he couldn't understand it. He sighed, feeling upset. Maybe if he squinted really really hard, he would be able to read it. Tony brought the book closer to his face, trying to see if maybe that would help him discern the words. Still nothing.

He heard a creaking behind him and gasped, shoving the book back in it's place before whipping around. His small shoulders were tensed, and he was squeezing Captain as hard as he could. He slumped slightly in relief, however, when he saw it was T'Challa.

"Hello little one, how did you sleep?" T'Challa asked, not moving from his spot. He didn't know if the small child would run from him. Tony wasn't afraid of him last night, but the child was half-asleep by the time he found him back then.

Tony's blue eyes widened at the question, before he blushed and lowered his head. He didn't say anything though, he was too afraid to. T'Challa, noticing the child's fearful silence, decided to see if he could break it. "I had a strange dream myself, I was trying to climb a mountain, but strangely enough the mountain was sugar and it had a waterfall of coffee.. I was a little upset, because I never made it to the top of the mountain.." He explained.

Tony listened to the man's story in curiosity. He felt a little guilty now. T'Challa had no reason to tell him this story, but he did. Tony really wanted to tell T'Challa about his dream before it slipped from his memory, he wanted to see what T'Challa thought of it, maybe if he liked the story, Tony could come up with more stories and they could be friends! Tony would like that.

Looking down, Tony shyly muttered,"I had a dream about a big black cat"

"A panther?" T'Challa asked curiously, and Tony looked up, nodding. There was a smile on the child's face, a genuine one. He seemed to be scooting closer to T'Challa, slowly but surely, as Tony continued talking.

"Yeah, and the panther let me climb on it's back, and then it grew wings and started to fly! And it flew into a Volcano and inside of it was a dragon!" Tony rambled excitedly, reminding T'Challa of the old Tony Stark, the one before Accords. After the Accords, T'Challa heard that Tony had started to isolate himself more. It made him upset, realizing that part of this was the fault of the people he was currently housing. But he couldn't focus on that right now.

T'Challa smiled at Tony, noticing the shine of happiness the child got from the small gesture. "That's interesting," He said truthfully, before holding out his hand. "Here, I'll take you to the kitchen, want some breakfast?"

Tony slumped, looking down shyly and shuffling his feet. He shyly walked over, before lifting his hand up. He wanted to be carried. T'Challa found nothing wrong with this, the child was four after all.

It was just absolutely adorable.

T'Challa knelt down, scooping the child up into am embrace. Tony grinned against T'Challa's shoulder, hugging the man's neck and sighing happily. He loved being carried, it felt like a much longer hug. Tony always loved hugs, so he cuddled against T'Challa as much as he could without choking the man.

They walked into the kitchen, and T'Challa thanked all the Gods he could think of that Steve and Clint were not in the room. Instead, it was only Scott and Sam. They looked over curiously, but didn't seem surprised. T'Challa guessed Steve told them about Tony since they had spoken last night. Thank God, since T'Challa didn't really know the whole story, it'd be a very awkward conversation.

T'Challa calmly asked,"What are you making?"

Sam smirked, before triumphantly replying,"Some pancakes, I learned to make them a long time ago, I'm pretty good at cooking in the past few years"

"Can you make two small ones for Tony?" He asked, not wanting to overwhelm the small child but still wanting to get him some food.

Sam tensed a bit, but nodded, not saying anything again. Scott, however, looked intrigued. With an attitude like his, T'Challa often forgot this man had a child. The only reason T'Challa knew about this was because the first few nights in Wakanda, everyone was rather homesick. They ended up sitting together and talking about the things they missed.

Scott brought up his daughter, saying he desperately wished he could go back in time and be there for her more. Having a child in the palace seemed to be making Scott nervous, but hopeful. T'Challa knew he could count on Scott to help him.

Scott smiled in a comforting way, before walking up to them. He hunched himself over a little to be eye to eye with Tony. "Tony, huh? That name suits you," He told the child. Tony's eyes widened, before his face turned red with blush. He turned and hid his face in T'Challa's shoulder again, muttering a quiet 'thank you'.

Scott smiled. He didn't know Tony Stark very well, so he really didn't have anything to compare to like the others did. But he also realized that this child in front of him was not the man that everyone was comparing him to, he didn't know what his adult self had done, there was really no reason to be mad at him.

"My name is Scott, I'll be helping take care of you, okay?" He asked, reaching out to pat the child's head. Tony flinched slightly when he lifted his hand, curling up a little more. When Scott patted his head though, he calmed down, and smiled shyly once more.

Sam had finished the food, and set them on plates before grabbing his own and leaving the room. Tony watched him go, tilting his head in confusion. Did the man not like him? Tony didn't understand.. Maybe he knew how stupid Tony was, his dad always said that.

Tony looked at Scott, eyes filled with worry that he had done something to drive away the other man. Scott seemed to be thinking for a moment, before he said,"Hey, don't worry about Sam. He's just a really messy eater, he doesn't want you to see how dirty he can get"

The small child giggled, finding the idea of seeing a messy adult amusing. The giggle reminded the adult of a bell, with how gentle but wonderful it sounded. Adult Tony never really laughed in front of anybody, so to hear a laugh from the child made them smile.

T'Challa held the boy tightly with one arm, his other grabbing the plate of food. He really didn't want to make the child sit on a stool after he'd been stuck on one for hours just last night. "Here, child, let's sit on the couch while we eat, its more comfortable," He gently explained.

"Yeah!" Scott agreed,"And we can watch some Disney movies! Do you have a favorite Disney movie, kid?"

Tony's blue eyes filled with confusion. Was he supposed to know what Disney was? He started to shake, afraid of Scott getting mad at him. "I.. I.." He stuttered, before lowering his head and whispering,"What's Disney?"

Scott gasped dramatically, but stopped quickly when he saw how badly Tony was shaking. Why was he so afraid? Was it because of Steve? "Have you never seen a movie before?" He asked gently, T'Challa running a hand through the child's hair comfortingly as he asked the question.

"No.." Tony said simply, his voice descending into a dark monotone. "F-father said that movies waste time, I'm not a good son if I'm not useful.." He was shaking even worse now, and Scott and T'Challa simultaneously felt their hearts shrivel up in sadness. What kind of parent told their four year old kid that?

T'Challa moved, sitting the kid down on the couch. The small child kept his eyes down, not looking at either of them, his arms squeezing his captain doll tightly. When he did not look up, the Wakandan king reached out, tilting his head up.

"Child, we are not mad at you. We are just surprised," He explained,"And your father is wrong. You are not a tool, you are a child, you do not need to be useful. We just want you to be happy and be a child, and play, run around, smile. Understand?"

Tony didn't seem to believe them, tilting his head again, as his eyes projected with disbelief and confusion. He wasn't used to adults being so nice, but he really liked it. He looked up at T'Challa again, shyly asking,"Really?"

Scott nodded, as he said,"Really really" Tony smiled again, before looking down again. He shuffled for a moment, before he whispered,"Can we watch a movie..?" His eyes filled with hope, and both adults quickly nodded in confirmation.

"Yes, of course," Scott said happily, moving over to the English DVDs, and looking through the Disney ones. What would a child like Tony enjoy? He didn't know a single thing about Stark, so eventually he decided to start out with which one he thought was the best. In the end, he chose Toy Story.

T'Challa had set up Tony with a towel on his lap, and cut up the pancakes to make it easier for him to eat. Tony ate for a bit, but was instantly enamored by the movie. His blue eyes were wide with awe, taking in the movie excitedly. He smiled, giggled at some of the jokes, only looking away to eat.

It was all relaxing for a while, and Tony wasn't shaking anymore. But then the door opened, and it was the exact people that T'Challa was hoping not to see.

Clint and Wanda had walked in the room, looking at something on a tablet together. It seemed Tony remembered Clint from yesterday, as he quickly got up, placing the plate down and running behind Scott's chair, hugging the captain doll quietly.

The archer looked at the child with a glare, making Tony squeak and duck behind the chair again. Scott frowned, and muttered,"There's no need for that, Hawkeye" 

"What did you say?" Clint snapped back, voice raising quickly. "I have every right to glare at him! Did you forget what he did to us?"

"But he doesn't remember that!" Scott snapped back, his loud voice causing Tony to flinch and move away. He moved to hide behind the couch, behind T'Challa, but the lady next to Hawkeye noticed him, and glared with even more ferocity.

"I don't care! He's here! That's enough!" Clint said,"He's done enough! We should have just let Ross take him and do whatever with him, I don't care!"

"How can you say that?!" T'Challa demanded, his voice raising as he lost his cool. "He was trying to help you, Clint, and you have children! How can you say such hateful words to a child!"

"He's not a child, he's a bastard!" Clint snarled, rage continuing into another rant. Tony felt himself hyperventilating, and turned and ran down a hall, trying to get away from the yelling. It bought back bad memories, of his mom and dad.. But there was a lot more hitting.

He got as far away from the yelling as possible, panting fearfully. The small child calmed his shaking, and then looked around. He didn't know where he was now.. But there was no yelling, so that was good.

Tony looked around, now holding Captain with only one hand, looking around. There was suddenly a lot of rooms that had glass walls that showed the other side, and a lot more medical equipment. There was some people in some of the rooms, but he jogged past as fast as he could before someone saw him.

Suddenly, he felt a weird feeling in his chest, and stopped. Inside the room next to him, he saw a man with his back turned, and a person in a white coat. But Tony wasn't interested in the person with the white coat, but that wasn't who Tony was interested in.

The person with the doctor.. He had long brown hair, and one of his arms was silver. Was it made of metal? Was he some kind of robot? Tony couldn't help his curiosity, and pressed his face against the glass, watching curiously.

They didn't notice him. He watched as the chatted, the man flexing the metal arm calmly. Tony wished he had a screwdriver of some kind, he'd like to know how it works..

Then the man turned around, walking to the door quickly.

Panicked, Tony turned and dashed away, unable to think of anything else other than getting away before the man saw him. He didn't want to have to go through any more yelling or confusion. Tony ducked behind the corner, his blue eyes seeming to glow as he listened, waiting to see what the man would do.

Bucky himself wasn't really feeling up to doing anything, and was a little exhausted. He had been woken up just two days ago, and was going through several tests to see if they could fix the trigger words so Hydra could not control him anymore. He was happy they were trying, seriously, but it was very taxing.

He took a moment to breathe before he walked out of the room, only to find his sock covered feet land on something squishy. Instincts told him to look down, and he was surprised at what he saw. It was a.. Captain America doll?

Kneeling down, he picked it up and examined it. Seeing the doll itself was strange, since he heard all of them were boycotted and destroyed after the Accords happened. Was Steve trying to joke around?

He sighed. Any other day he may be up for Steve's jokes, but he was too tired. He decided he may bring it up to Steve tomorrow, but tonight was too much, he was just going to go to his temporary room and sleep.

Tony sighed in relief when the footsteps faded, eyes darkening as he hugged his arms.. Only to realize his Captain America doll was not there. His heart started to speed up again, panic was the first thing that jumped back into his mind.

The child ran out from around the corner. But there was no doll on the ground, and he whimpered loudly. Suddenly, he didn't feel safe anymore, he didn't have Cap'n with him. It was scary, that man took him. Tony's breath became short again.

"W-wait.." He stuttered, walking down another hallway, then another, and another, but the man was gone. "P-please come back.. I.. I need.." Tony whimpered fearfully, clutching at his hoodie.

He felt like he couldn't breathe, as he leaned against the wall and pulled his leg into his chest and hiding his face in his knees. He couldn't help it, he couldn't move. Without his Cap'n.. He couldn't be brave.. He couldn't feel safe.

Alone once more, Tony let out desperate, gut wrenching sobs.


	3. Chapter 3

It took several more minutes of yelling for everyone to calm down. Well, truth be told it was only really Clint, Scott, and T'Challa arguing. Everyone else was merely staring and not intervening. The anger in the room distracted them so much, they didn't notice that the very person they were arguing about was not with them anymore.

It wasn't until Scott realized that Tony probably shouldn't be here to hear this that he realized the child already made the decision to run off. He froze, turning to look around. "Tony?" He asked worriedly, causing T'Challa to instantly go silent. Scott frowned even more, turning and calling,"Tony? Where are you?!"

"He left," Wanda simply said,"Ran down that hall"

T'Challa looked noticeably angered by her words, and turned to face her. "And you didn't say anything?!" He demanded. The young woman took a step back unconsciously, looking towards Clint, before firmly replying,"It's not our problem"

"Well, I'm making it your guys' problem," T'Challa declared, his dark eyes seemed to be forcing them to remain in place,"You are the ones who continue to make him afraid, with the anger you are directing at someone who doesn't even know why you are angry. He has done nothing to you in this state, and he was only trying to help before this happened. You're the reason he ran, you help find him" 

"I'm not looking for the kid, T'Challa, I'm sure you'll find him eventually, he couldn't have gone far," Clint said dismissively, still finding enough rage inside himself to snark at the man who was protecting him.

T'Challa seemed to have enough. "And how would you feel if it was one of your children who was lost, Barton? Wouldn't you want us to help look for them too?" He questioned, before narrowing his eyes once more. "But then again, with how easily you left them to go fight a battle that wasn't yours, I suppose you don't care that much at all, do you?"

Clint pulled back as if he had been burned, eyes widening. Shocked at the hateful words T'Challa had spat at him, the archer turned and stormed down a different hall. He heard nobody call him back or follow him, and frankly he could care less at this point if anyone did. He didn't know where he was going, he just wanted to avoid everyone. His temper was steaming, he was afraid that if anyone tried to speak to him, he'd shoot an arrow through their head.

Eventually, he came to a stop, leaning against the wall and rubbing his face with shaky hands. He needed to calm down, but it felt like someone had tore into him before leaving him open and alone. The words T'Challa had snarled cut him deep, but somewhere inside himself he realized what he said was true. That didn't make his words hurt any less though..

Clint's hearing suddenly picked up on something nearby, lifting his head up and turning to see what was causing that noise. It was coming from a nearby hall, and Clint couldn't stop himself from going to check it out. After all, he had wandered pretty far in the span of a few minutes, who knows what it could be in this giant ass palace.

Turning the corner, he felt anger slice through his heart again at the sight of the small Tony Stark, his mind instantly filling up with selfish reasons as to why the child was crying. Maybe he wanted someone to dote on him and no one was, so he was crying for attention. Yeah, probably, the spoiled rich kid that he was-

But then, the child lifted his head slightly, blue eyes widening when he saw Clint. The child threw his head back down, his crying violently redoubling. His scrawny shoulders shook with the strength of his sobs. The small boy scooted down the side of the wall, seeming to be trying as hard as he could to get away from Clint. "P-please.." Tony stuttered out,"M'sorry.. M'sorry… D-d-don't hit me.."

Clint felt like someone had violently yanked on his heartstrings as he listened to the child's desperate tone, yet behind that despair he could hear resignation, as if the child has already accepted the fact he was going to be hurt. Dear God.. What had been done to this poor kid? Why did it take him so long to realize something was not right?

Still slightly hopeful, Clint leaned against the wall slightly, asking,"Why would I hit you, kid?"

"Cuz you don' l-like me.." Tony whispered mournfully, and Clint frowned even more. Part of him still felt irrational anger towards this child, but as those blue doe eyes stared straight at him, he found himself unable to show this anger at the child.

Clint moved, sitting down against the wall next to the child, who seemed to be trying to bury himself as far as he could against the wall in an attempt to appear small. "I'm not going to hit you, Tony," He said as gently as possible,"I would never hit a kid"

Tony had uncurled from his ball slightly, looking at Clint underneath his bangs. His nose scrunched up a bit, before he shakily asked,"B-b-but w-why did you s-say those m-mean things..?" Usually when adults said mean things to him, they were about to hit him. This man's words were confusing Tony, he didn't know what to think.

"I shouldn't have said those things to you.." Clint admitted awkwardly,"I was mad.. I was kinda mad that you were here, but I shouldn't have been. We are busy a lot, and so I got mad"

Tony suddenly perked up, looking hopeful. "Oh! That's okay," He said hopefully,"I know how to be quiet and stay out of the way! I can be quiet, and then you can be happy!"

"What?" Clint asked,"Why would that make me happy?"

"It made daddy happy," The child told him,"Daddy isn't as mean when he can't find me, he doesn't hit me as much when I'm quiet"

The archer's eyes widened, his voice seeming to leave him for a moment. He didn't know what was more horrifying, the fact that Tony had just revealed that his father hit him, or that a four year old child was so accustomed to such abuse, he was comfortable with saying it aloud, as if it was the norm.

"No Tony," Clint began quickly, ignoring the fear that flashed through the boy's eyes,"You.. You don't have to be quiet, you don't have to hide. I may have been mad, but I'm not anymore" That was a lie, but the child didn't need to know that. "And how am I supposed to get to know you better when you hide? We can't become friends then"

Clint could practically see the cogs turning in Tony's wheels as he tried to register the archer's sudden kindness. Slowly, the child lowered his head, his tiny fists clutching to his shorts. He looked like he was about to cry again, confusing Clint beyond belief. "I-I um.. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?" He asked.

Tony's eyes instantly went towards him, brown eyebrows furrowing, before he reached his hands up. "Hug?" The child asked, his voice so soft and quiet, as if he was afraid Clint would find his request foolish. When Clint stayed silent for a moment, the child quickly ducked his head, waiting for the blow his memory told him would come. What was he thinking, Stark men don't need comfort, they're made of iron. He was just being selfish-

The archer moved, pulling the child forward and pulling him into a caring hug. He felt Tony stiffen in surprise, before he seemed to melt into Clint's hold, a happy sigh escaping him. The positive attention and the mere fact he was being touched without it being a painful touch, it made the child feel so happy.

Clint wanted to be happy, he really did. But seeing how Tony was acting, it reminded him of his childhood. The poor child relaxed so much just from this small amount of affection, he could only imagine what kind of abuse happened to Tony in his first four years of life that it got to the point he was afraid of being a kid..

Clint felt his heart swell with a mix of anger and guilt. How had he not seen it before? With his own past, he should have figured it out. Sure, maybe adult Tony hid it well, but he really couldn't read a child well enough to notice it? His anger really had clouded him. He needed to make up for what he said before.

He held the child in his arms a little while longer, as the child absorbed as much affection possible, not attempting to squirm out of the hug. Eventually, curiosity got the better of Clint, he moved Tony so he could it on his lap, then asked,"So, Tiny-Tones, why were you crying in a hallway all by yourself?" 

Tony's bottom lip shook, and his arms moved up to hug himself, beginning to shake again. He leaned against Clint's chest, finding the feeling of having someone nearby that cared for him very comforting. He squeezed his fingers together, trying to keep his breath calm, as he stuttered,"M-my Cap'n. I dropped him, now he's gone.."

His tiny hands came up to rub the tears away that continued to tumble from his eyes. "I-I lost Cap'n! H-he must be so m-mad at me! M-maybe he left to find someone b-better than me.." The dams broke, and the little child started sobbing even worse, taking deep gulps of air to try and breath through the tears.

 _The doll?_ Clint thought, wondering why it meant so much to the kid for a moment, before it clicked. His kids did the same thing, they got attached to stuffed animals easily when they were younger, but never like this. If Clint had to guess, he'd say that the Captain America doll was probably a safety cushion for the kid, helped him keep calm and not panic when he didn't feel safe. Now the kid didn't have it, he was probably terrified.

Playing with the boy's hair, he gently said,"Don't worry Tony, I'm sure he misses you too. We'll find him, it may just take a while, okay?" He tried to smile, be reassuring, but Tony didn't seem to believe, or be happy, with his words. But he wasn't going to complain, Clint guessed it was because he was afraid of what Clint may do. He just nodded, and looked down, not even trying to argue.

What could Clint do? This palace was huge, he had no idea when Tony had dropped it. They may not be able to find it for a while.. Suddenly, an idea popped into Clint's head.

Without speaking, he picked up the small boy, holding him in a tight embrace as he walked back down the hall. Tony tensed up in his arms, but clung to him even tighter. The kid seemed to soak up all any and all physical contact given to him, though, so it was no surprise when he started to relax in Clint's arms, nuzzling his face into Clint's shoulder.

Clint carried the kid to his room, setting him down on the soft bed, before beginning to dig through his drawers. He pushed aside some of his clothing to reveal the old Hawkeye merchandise, including a stuffy. Even though those days were over, Clint couldn't help but hold onto the old items, they reminded him of the days when he was welcome in the world, when things were simple..

When they were a team..

Quickly, the archer shoved those feelings away, taking the stuffy and walking back over to the child, who was trying very hard not to look interested. Clint suddenly found himself feeling mischievous, and revealed the stuffy from around his back. Tony's blue eyes examined it curiously, tilting his head. He seemed too nervous to ask anything, so Clint began to speak proudly.

"This," He declared,"Is Hawkeye. He's the most amazing, the smartest, the strongest, and the most awesome superhero in the entire universe!"

Tony gasped softly, his blue eyes widening. He looked down at the stuffy, then back up at at Clint. "Really?" The child asked in amazement.

"Yep," Clint declared.

"But what about Cap'n 'merica?" Tony questioned confusedly, tilting his head. He cringed backward a bit as Clint moved forward, sitting next to the kid and leaning towards his ear.

"Lemme tell you a secret," He whispered,"Even Captain America agreed that Hawkeye is the best. Hawkeye is officially better than Captain America"

"Really?!" Tony echoed, jerking up to stare at Clint with wide eyes, hanging off the man's every word. Clint smiled, nodding down at the child in conformation. Tony looked down at the doll, the back up at Clint, as he whispered,"Whoa.."

Clint handed the child the doll, who stared at it for a moment before squeezing it to his chest tightly, needing the safety he felt the stuffy provide. He seemed to have calmed considerably after getting the stuffy in his arms.

"What's his superpower?" Tony asked shyly, and Clint puffed his chest out proudly, firmly declaring,"Hawkeye is so amazing, he only needs a bow and arrow to fight"

"Like Robin Hood?" Tony asked excitedly, blue eyes sparkling. "Like Robin Hood," Clint confirmed, ruffling the boy's hair kindly. The child let out a peal of giggles, before grabbing onto Clint's side and hugging him, before a frown suddenly overcame the boy's face.

"I really like Robin Hood," The little boy admitted, hugging the stuffy closer. "I used'ta hope he would come, and steal all my dad's money, then maybe daddy would stop leaving and play with me.. But daddy heard me.. He told me that even if he lost all his money, I would still be just as big of a disappointment.. And that I'd never be as good as Cap'n 'merica.."

Clint didn't know how to respond to that at first, all he could do was sit there as he felt his heart crumble, staring at the little boy. How could Howard say that to a child as sweet as Tony seemed to be? The fact Tony seemed to believe the bastard's words only made Clint hate Howard even more.

"No, no Tony," Clint quickly said, pulling the small boy into an even tighter hug. "Don't you ever think that, you're an amazing kid. I'm sorry about being mean to you, I want to make up for it, I was to spend time with you, you seem amazing and I want to get to know you better! I just want you to be happy, we all do!"

Tony's eyes filled with hope for a moment, before he slumped again. "But what about the others..? They still don't like me.." He said worriedly, wringing his hands together.

"Well," Clint began, rubbing his chin for a moment. "We'll just have to bring them to the Tony side, huh?"

A smile overcame the boy's face again, as he buried himself further into Clint's arms, closing his eyes. "Yeah.." He muttered shyly, before going silent once more.

Clint stared down at the child once more, wondering how he ever held anger towards the boy. Guilt filled his system as he realized that T'Challa was right, he really was a jerk. But now he could make up for that, he had a chance. Though he may still not agree with adult Tony's decisions, he realized that Tiny Tony had done nothing wrong.

He felt a smile crawl up on his face. Dammit, it seemed he had done it again. He'd adopted another stray.

– – – – – –

It would be several hours later when T'Challa and Scott would finally find Clint and Tony. After worriedly running around, they were beginning to wonder if they could ever find the kid. T'Challa had half a mind to go find Clint, Wanda, and Steve, and beat the shit out of them.

"This is ridiculous! What if we can't find him?!" Scott declared worriedly, as they walked into the common room once more. "Who knows where he could be! What if he-"

T'Challa suddenly stopped, and grabbed Scott's shoulder, turning him around, towards the kitchen area. Sitting in the chairs was Clint and Tony, both with grilled cheese sandwiches in front of them. Tony looked up happily at them, his cheeks filled with the food.

Clint raised a hand, calmly saying,"Hey"

"T'alla!" Tony declared excitedly, sliding off his chair and running over as fast as his little legs could carry him. He wrapped his arms around T'Challa's waist, burying his face in his stomach. T'Challa instantly knelt down, hugging the boy back tightly.

T'Challa swore in Wakandan, before firmly saying," _Don't_ do that, Tony, don't wander off like that, I was worried sick"

"M'sorry.." Tony said sheepishly, hiding his face in T'Challa's shoulder, the Hawkeye stuffy cuddled close to his chest as well.

The king smiled, placing the boy down and then ruffling his hair with a smile. That's when he noticed something, causing him to slow down a bit. He placed a hand through Tony' hair, noticing a lock of hair that looked more red than brown.

"What's this?" He asked curiously,"What happened to your hair?" Tony blinked, bringing his hands up to try and see his hair.

The child shrugged, while Clint shook his head. "Don't look at me," He said,"I just made the food"

T'Challa stared at Clint for a long moment, before smiling down at Tony. "Why don't you go with Scott and he'll get you ready for your nap"

Tony's nose scrunched up a bit, before he nodded, moving towards Scott, before he stopped. He turned around, hugging Clint, whom had moved closer to the group. "Thank you, Mr. Clint," He said quietly, staring up at him with innocent eyes. Clint froze for a moment, before ruffling Tony's messy hair. "No problemo, Tiny Tones"

Scott then left, taking Tony with him down the hall. The child rubbed his eyes as exhaustion caught up with him. T'Challa smiled at the sight, before turning to look at Clint, whom was stuffing his face with the last of the grilled cheese.

"Have you changed your mind about Tony now?" He asked the archer, who turned to face him, looking firm.

Slowly, he replied,"I still don't agree with what Tony did.. Before this happened. But I don't want to hurt this kid, he's been hurt enough.. If you know what I mean"

T'Challa nodded, glad he wasn't the only one that figured it out yet. "Well, I can agree with most of that statement," He jokingly but not so jokingly replied,"But remember what will happen if you try and hurt him again" 

"I don't plan to," Clint said firmly, as if insulted T'Challa would thank that anymore. He placed his hand against his heart, looking pained. "I made the kid my famous grilled cheese, your highness, that's an honor even you haven't gotten"

T'Challa raised an eyebrow, before grabbing the slice Tony hadn't finished eating, and taking a bite of it. "Hmm.." He said thoughtfully,"I suppose any child Tony's age would find this edible.."

"Aww! Come on! That's a low blow!" Clint complained, crossing his arms and pouting again. T'Challa just chuckled, walking away from the kitchen feeling good. Seeing Tony and Clint bonding made him proud of the archer.

He was glad Clint had seen the error of his ways.

– – – – – –

 _Tony was running, running to where, he didn't know. But that wasn't what he was afraid of, he was afraid of what he was running from._

 _Behind him, things and robots chased him. They were gaining on him. They were calling him names, horrible names. Sometimes it was his dad's voice, othe times it was the people whom he was currently with._

 _"I'm sorry!" The child sobbed, bringing his hands to his hair, tugging on the locks and desperately trying not to scream. "Please! D-d-don't hurt me!"_

 _"Ungrateful brat, you really think I care about you? I just did all that to get you to shut up," Mr. Clint's voice rang out._

 _"Such a waste of my important time, you'll never amount to anything," T'alla's voice hissed at him. Tony sobbed, covering his ears, trying to block out the voices. But they kept getting louder._

" _You're such a failure!"  
_

" _You're worthless!"_

" _You can't do anything right!"_

" _I wish you had never been born!"_

– – – – – 

Tony jerked up with a silent scream, his blue eyes glowing with his fear. He looked around, leaping for his Hawkeye doll and holding it to his chest. It took several deep, gulping breaths for him to calm down, and get a bearing on his surroundings.

He was in the room from before, where T'alla took him just last night. It was okay, he was safe here. No one was going to hurt him. But.. But T'alla hurt him in his dream.. What if he was going to do it again? Or Mr. Clint? Or the tall man?

Suddenly, the room felt stuffy. Tony knew he wasn't supposed to run off again, but he couldn't breathe, he needed some fresh air.

Taking Hawkeye with him for protection, Tonu cautiously escaped the room. He wandered out, examining the walls, and watching them change to glass. But instead of doctors and white, he saw a garden in the middle of it. It was like a real life garden… In a house!

Curiously, Tony walked to the door, pushing it open the best he could. Instantly, he smelt hundreds of flowers and the sound of crickets. Looking up, he could see the sun setting. It was petty, and he felt as if he could stare at it forever.

He noticed the fireflies in the air, which began to glow. Excitedly, wiggling his toes in the grass, he squealed and tried to catch them. The fireflies evaded his efforts, no matter how far Tony chased them across the garden.

He heard the sound of the glass door opening again, causing the child to come to a screeching halt. He gasped, grabbing Hawkeye from his place among a bed of flowers, and hiding behind a tree.

Out of the door.. It was the guy with the metal arm! The one who took Cap'n! Tony gasped, his eyes widening, hands clutching to the bark. He was tensed, his eyes steely and long hair flowing in the gentle wind.

He looked scary, like he was ready to hit someone at a moment's notice, but Tony heard what Hawkeye was telling him. He had to be brave! He had to get Cap'n back! Then, with Hawkeye and Cap'n back, he'd be safe.

– – – – – –

The sky looked beautiful tonight, it helped him relax. He had tried to sleep, but nightmares plagued him, as usual. He knew Steve wanted him to go to him because of stuff like this, but Steve didn't understand. Bucky put on the old facade of his old personality, to keep Steve happy. But with the tests, and the never ending memories. It hurt.. He couldn't handle it sometimes.

That's why he liked this garden, it was almost always empty. He could be alone, he could relax, he could just listen to the noise of the outside world. The best part was.. He was always able to be alone here..

Suddenly, the hairs on the back of his neck rose, goosebumps crawling up his arms. Someone was here.

He stood up, looking around. His icy eyes examined, looking for the source of his sudden tension. There was someone here, who was it? What did they want? Why did they-

Suddenly, a tiny blur attempted to run by, but their foot got caught by the root of a tree. They fell into the grass, dropping a doll from their hand. It was.. A child? 

The small boy suddenly gasped, lunging forward and grabbing the stuffy in their arms, standing up and backing away from Bucky. Their blue eyes, which looked like they may be glowing, watched him with a mix of fear and.. Anger? Worry? He wasn't sure.

Then, the boy stuttered,"Y-You! It was you, you were the one that took Cap'n!" His voice was quiet, but filled with conviction for something so tiny.

Bucky tilted his head, eyes curiously examining the boy up and down. What did he mean? What was he referring to? "Me?" Bucky asked.

Bucky looked at the boy's pale, scrawny body, the brown hair with a lock of red, the shaky blue eyes. He didn't get this.. He didn't understand, where did he come from? Tilting his head, Bucky looked the straight at the child, confused. With a hint of emotion in his voice, he opened his mouth, and asked.

"Who… Are you?"


	4. Chapter 4

"Who... Are you?"

Even though it was only three little words, it seemed to be enough to crumble the courage the small child in front of him had built up. The finger he had been pointing pulled away, he stuttered, and his face began to turn red.

The child stumbled, unfortunately tripping over the tree's root again. He shrieked in surprise, falling onto his butt. He nervously looked up at Bucky, hugging the doll in his arms tightly. "I.. I.." He stuttered, shuddering and scooting backwards. Bucky didn't know what to do, the last time he'd actually seen or interacted with a kid in over 70 years. What did you say to a scared kid?

Before he could say anything, the kid once more stuttered,"C-Cap'n, you took my cap'n.." Bucky didn't understand for a moment, and then looked at the doll in the child's hands. _Oh.._ He realized suddenly. The Captain America doll he had taken to his room. He had still forgotten to ask Steve about that. So it wasn't a prank? It was this kid'? Who _was_ this kid?

"Um.. I have the doll in my room, want to go and get it with me?" He asked, then wanting to facepalm as he realized that what he just said was pretty creepy. As if to agree with him, the child shook his head and moved closer to the tree, blue eyes suspicious.

Bucky shrugged, he didn't want to risk walking out and seeing someone right now. It was always too awkward, especially around people like Clint and Sam. He just sat back down, rubbing his stump calmly. The child watched him suspiciously, his eyes moving to look at the stump with sudden curiosity. "What happened to your arm?" He asked shyly.

"They took it in for repairs," Bucky answered simply, so used to Steve asking about it in an attempt to make conversation he didn't even think twice. But the child just frowned farther, and shook his head.

"No," The tiny kid declared,"Your _real_ arm" Bucky raised his eyebrows in surprise, and then looked down at the grass quietly. "I fell off a train," He stated without emotion, eyes dark. "My arm got cut off"

The child's face morphed into concern, and he scooted closer and whispered,"M'sorry, didn't mean to make you upset.." The child's shoulders were shaking, as it seemed to him, with fear. Something about this child hit Bucky, he didn't know how. He didn't want the kid to be scared.

"It's okay, it's not the worst thing that happened to me, I don't mind it anymore," He answered honestly. The child seemed to relax a bit, moving to the edge of the bench and sitting down, his little legs swinging.

The child then nodded. "It's okay, I know too," He replied,"One time I got pushed down the stairs and it really hurt, but I get why it happened, I wasn't fast enough" His little hand reached out, patting Bucky's hand in a comforting way.

Bucky felt his heart squeeze at those words, he didn't understand. T'Challa seemed like the type of person to care for kids and family, was someone in the palace abusing the kid, or did he help the kid? But before he could say anything, the child looked up at him with a smile. "Did you know some animals can grow back body parts?" He asked.

Bucky wasn't one for conversation, at least, not anymore, but he could at least try. "No, I didn't, doll," He replied calmly. The child seemed to grow more excited, his eyes filled with the knowledge he was desperate to share.

"Yeah! Like Lizards and Starfish and Axolotls!" The child chattered,"I think maybe if we can find one and be really nice to it, maybe it'll tell us how it does that. Then we can use science to make you a new arm!"

Bucky hummed, nodding his head. He was amused by the child's chatter. Talking to a starfish? Seemed to be a vain idea, but in a child's eye, it was genius. "That's a pretty smart idea, kid," He said happily.

"Tony," The child shyly said, blushing at the compliment. "I'm Tony, what's your name?" He looked up Bucky, tilting his head curiously.

The older man smiled, genuinely for the first time since.. Hell, he didn't know. "I'm Bucky, nice to meet you Tony," He said back.

They went silent, and Tony kept swinging his legs for a moment. Then, he turned and looked back over at Bucky. "Could you bring me back Cap'n sometime soon?" He shyly asked,"Please? He makes me feel safe"

Bucky didn't question it, and nodded. "What do you mean soon? Where are you going?" He asked, hiding the sadness in his voice. This kid had been the best company he'd had in months. He was innocent, he didn't expect anything from Bucky. It was.. Very nice. Why did he have to leave? 

"T'alla told me not to leave my room 'ntil he woke up, so we could eat breakfast. I'm supposed ta be sleeping but I had a nightmare," Tony told him simply,"But I didn't get lost this time! Hawkeye made us a map, so now we can get back to the room without getting lost!"

Bucky smiled at the child's strange imagination, and nodded. "Well, good luck, I hope I see you again soon," He honestly admitted.

Tony then nodded, and said,"Okay, bye bye!" With his little legs working hard, the child galloped away excitedly. Bucky watched the kid go, and decided he probably should go too, before the mother hen came searching.

Getting up and walking the opposite way, he felt something scratching him in the back of hi mind. The kid's name was Tony, could he be..? Bucky sighed, shaking it off. No, there was no way it could be Stark. The guilt was eating away at him, but he couldn't start thinking some random kid with the same name was the same Tony. Tony Stark was 45, this kid is like 4. They weren't the same person.

It just wasn't possible

Tony scrambled back to his room as fast as his little legs could carry him, shutting the door and looking around. The room was empty, dark, and quiet. Maybe he would have liked it if he hadn't had the nightmare, but right now he didn't want to be alone. The Hawkeye doll whispered to him, telling him that he could protect him from anything bad that might try and get him. But that still didn't change the fact that Tony was alone, and he didn't like it.

The room suddenly felt suffocating, he whimpered loudly, opening the door again, and ran out of the room. He was afraid. Daddy always told him nightmares weren't real, he should be scared because then he was weak. But he couldn't help it. This wasn't his Daddy's house, the monsters might really get him this time.

As the child sped around the corner, he crashed into some legs. Falling backwards for the second time that night, he looked up and froze. It was the tall man.

Steve stared at the child with wide eyes. It had been a while since he'd seen him, mainly because it was hard to see him without getting awkward and unsure of what to do. But now they were right in front of each other.

"Um.. Why are you out of bed?" He questioned, as it was 3am. Steve did not understand why the child suddenly started to shake and sob, bringing his hands up and running his eyes.

Gasping loudly, the child stuttered,"I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to, I just.. I had a bad dream, I was scared, it's dark and- and, I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!" Tony was heaving for air, seeming to teeter on the edge of panic. That's when Steve snapped out of his silent stupor.

Kneeling down, he gently said,"Hey, hey it's okay. I'm not mad" Tony had looked up at him, his eyes red rimmed and snot running from his nose. He sniffed, and shyly asked,"Y-you're not?"

"No, I'm not," Steve replied calmly,"I actually had a nightmare too, that's why I'm awake now" It was not a lie, he was being honest with the kid. Ever since Siberia and leaving Tony behind, his nightmares got worse. He'd been so exhausted lately, this was probably the seventh night in a row he'd woken up early and been unable to go back to sleep. He was a super soldier, but there was only so far he could go, he had limits too.

Tony's look of sadness morphed into a look of concern. "Oh.." The child whispered softly, seeming nervous for a moment before he walked forward, wrapping his little arms around Steve's neck and burying his face in Steve's shoulder. "S'okay," He whispered,"They're not real"

Steve decided not to tell the child that these dreams actually did happen and it was just him reliving memories. He just hummed, holding the small boy closer with one arm tiredly.

The superhero wouldn't see what happened next. Tony, nuzzled into his shoulder, opened his eyes, which began to glow a bright hue of blue. Moments later, Steve suddenly felt refreshed, like all his exhaustion melted away and the migraine threatening to make him vomit went with it.

He didn't know what happened, but he was glad it did. Leaning back and looking at the child below him, he asked,"Hey, how about we doing something to calm down?"

Tony tilted his head curiously, wondering what he was going to say. Steve smiled at the cuteness of the move, as he stood and declared,"Let's go draw something, I have papers and lots of colors so we could make lots of pictures!"

The child's blue eyes grew excited, as he nodded excitedly. "Yeah!" He said excitedly, before getting up and following after Steve as fast as he could.

They set up in the empty living room, placing papers and colored pencils down for the kid on the coffee table, and getting his own sketch book and charcoal. The child started drawing instantly, facing Steve. He would look up every few minutes, eyeing Steve with what he thought was suspicion and yearning.

Steve was watching too, of course. He was expecting Tony to draw some robots and start chattering about how he was going to build them some day, like Howard did during the war. But he didn't.

Instead, Tony drew flowers. There wasn't really any type, but many different colors. He seemed so interested in it, Howard would never have been. He only ever cared about his robots, women, and booze. Steve might have said that about Tony a few weeks ago, but now? He didn't know anymore. They were more different than he realized..

"Do you like flowers?" He questioned, wanting to see what the child would say in return. The little boy nodded calmly, concentrating on coloring in the lines. "I like flowers, b'cause they're pretty, and they're always happy, never sad," The child explained in his own logic. His blue eyes looked up at Steve excitedly. "I wanna be always happy like a flower one day"

Steve hummed, nodding at the kid before going back to his sketchbook. For a little while, Steve didn't know what he was drawing. But then he saw what it was, and smiled. He was drawing Tony, with the widest smile on his cute cheeks.

Steve wanted him to be happy, he wanted to see this smile on the real Tony's face. He wanted the child to not have to worry about such sadness or pain like the adult Tony had. He wanted to make up for his misdeeds. Steve was going to take care of the kid, and he'd make sure he was happy, even if it was the last act he'd ever perform.

Eventually, Tony fell back into a restful sleep, Steve not far behind. T'Challa would walk in a few hours later and sigh in relief at the sight. Maybe, just maybe, things were going to work out between all of them. He had his hope now, for it was right in front of his eyes.

Tony Stark was truly an incredible kid, T'Challa would learn even more a week later. The child's hair now was almost completely red, some brown locks still held out, but the hair had truly changed in such a short time. Nobody knew why, so nobody really mentioned it, since Tony seemed to be uncomfortable about the topic.

T'Challa had also, one day, thought Tony had maybe hurt himself, but the realized it was a freckle. They soon showed up more around his face, and the child seemed to like them, so they didn't say anything.

The child continued to amaze though. One day, T'Challa had taken his work to the library so he could keep an eye on him. A toaster went missing a few days ago, and though they had no real idea where it went, he couldn't help but be suspicious of a certain engineer turned child.

He had been writing as the child read a book on the couch nearby, the Hawkeye plushy next to him as usual. Tony began to look conflicted as he looked down at the book, looking up at T'Challa nervously. Eventually, he seemed to gain some courage as he slid down the chair, standing frozen for a long moment. He then scooted closer to the King, before stopping and shuffling her feet.

T'Challa finally noticed the child, and turn to look at him. "Tony? What's wrong, little one?" He asked calmly. Tony's eyes widened, a blush overcoming his face at the realization that he'd been caught.

"I..I.." Tony stuttered out, before pushing the book forward. "I can't read that word," He admitted, looking down in shame, like he expected to be hurt for not knowing one simple word. This is something the adult Tony had trouble with, T'Challa knew he couldn't let it stay, he had to say something.

Without looking at the book, he gently ruffled Tony's messy hair, ignoring the flinch he received in return. "Tony, it's okay if you don't know. Nobody will be mad, we'll help you figure out whatever it is you don't know, okay?" He promised gently.

Tony shyly nodded, whispering,"Okay, T'alla.." That nickname made T'Challa chuckle, and he turned towards the book, eyes widening in shock as he suddenly realized why Tony was having trouble reading this book. It was completely in Wakandan.

"Little one, you can read this?!" He asked in surprise, while Tony's blue eyes stared at him innocently. The child then nodded, and said,"Yeah.. Or.. W-well, at least most of it.." He seemed to suddenly grow nervous, and looked at T'Challa with fear.

Quickly, T'Challa said,"I'm not mad, Tony, this is amazing, it takes some adults _years_ to learn Wakandan! You are a very intelligent child, I'm very very proud of you"

Tony, who had looked extremely nervous before, beamed happily before suddenly growing bashful. He shyly looked down, and whispered,"Thank you, T'alla.."

T'Challa smiled and nodded, then looked at his paperwork with a frown. He really didn't want to do it right now, and now he had an excuse, a good one. Picking up the book, he moved over to the couch Tony had been sitting at, moving the hawkeye plush before he sat down. "How about this, we'll translate it together. You read as much as you can, and I'll help you whenever you get stuck," He suggested.

The child looked shocked, like he didn't expect help. But then he grinned, nodding and moving to sit next to T'Challa happily. The king handed the boy the book, and Tony began to read. Slowly, nervously at first, but then gaining confidence with the help of T'Challa's soft, but helpful corrections. It was all nice and wonderful, to see Tony so happy and open after over a week of trying to get him to be even a little chatty. But it made T'Challa think of something worrying..

What if they couldn't change Tony back?

The second time Tony and Bucky saw each other, it was a lot less violent. Bucky was sitting in the garden again, earlier than normal. He was flexing the new metal arm, and hating it. As sad as it was to think of, he honestly preferred HYDRA's arm, that one actually felt like a real arm. This one just made him feel like a robot. He knew it was a prototype, but still..

"Your arm is back," A shy voice said, causing Bucky to turn back around and find the owner. He recognized those blue eyes, though the messy red hair was a difference. He was holding a bunch of papers, the Hawkeye Doll, tape, scissors, and colored pencils in his little arms, his head tilted curiously.

Looking down at the stupid am, he shrugged, and said,"I guess.." It barely even reacted with his own movements, shrugging two seconds after his regular arm. The child walked closer, and tilted his head to the other side. "But you don't like it?"

"No, not really.." He admitted,"It just doesn't feel right, it's not like my arm from before.." He saw the confusion in the child's face, and sighed. Why was he telling some toddler this? It's obvious the kid didn't get it.

The child confusedly stated,"But that arm is a robot, your other arm was real, of course they won't feel the same"

"No, no," Bucky exclaimed quickly,"I.. I had another metal arm before this one, it felt a lot more like my real arm than this one.."

"Do you want that other arm back?" Tony asked him, tilting his head, red bangs falling into his eyes. Bucky let out a barked laugh that caused the child to jump, as he said,"Dear God, no, not in a million years"

"Why?" Tony asked.

"The star"

"The star?" The child repeated.

"Yeah, the star," Bucky repeated back,"The bad people who put the arm on me put the star on my arm, and then made me do lots of bad things. Everytime I see that star, it makes me remember, I don't like remembering.."

He sighed, suddenly needing to vent. "But this one doesn't have anything on it, I guess some people would think that's better, but it's not," He tried to explain,"There's nothing there, so I imagine the star anyway.. It makes me remember, and I hate it"

The child stared at him silently, unmoving, but Bucky could see that his mind was moving a mile a minute. The child ran to the bench, putting the paper down and beginning to draw something out. Bucky blinked curiously, seeing the determination in Tony's eyes. He leaned back, trying to see what the child was making.

The blue eyes noticed him, and the little fireball gasped, grabbing the paper and turning his back, making it so his body hid the paper. This stayed that way for a few minutes, until Tony used some scissors he had to cut it out. "Close your eyes," The child ordered, and Bucky chuckled at the child's excitement.

He kept his eyes closed, until he heard the child move back, and say,"Okay! Open your eyes!"

Bucky opened his eyes, turning towards his arm, where the child was looking. Taped to the shoulder of his metal arm was a blue flower, and he felt a warmth in his chest. He felt.. Happy? It was something so small, but after seventy years of the red star, a blue paper flower made him feel so amazing.

"Do.. You like it- Oof!" Tony squealed, as Bucky pulled him into a hug, with a wide smile on his face. "Thanks, you little fireball," Bucky said teasingly, yet thankfully. Tony blushed shyly, and then hugged back.

Bucky suddenly remembered something. "Oh, here, I've been meaning to give this back to you," He said, pulling the Captain America Doll out of the bag he'd brought with him.

Tony gasped, and yelled,"Cap'n!" He took the doll, hugging him tightly. He looked up at Bucky like he was the lord and savior of the world. "Thank you," He said excitedly, hugging Bucky again, before hopping down and picking up his papers and hawkeye.

Bucky watched, and noticed the two colors of construction paper in the kid's hands. It was a tan, and a dark brown. Suddenly, Bucky thought of something. "You know, a little birdie told me about a toaster that went missing from the palace a few days ago, you would happen to know anything about that, would you?" He asked suspiciously, but with a playful tone.

The child turned around, his eyes way too innocent as he stared at Bucky. "I dunno," He responded, a blush crawling up his cheeks as he quickly turned and ran away.

Bucky watched the kid go, before looking at the flower again. He didn't know why he liked the conversations that they had between each other. Maybe it was because Tony was a kid, he didn't know Bucky like the adults, he didn't judge. Yet somehow, as a kid, he was so wise, and knew how to make Bucky feel better, The other adults here either hated him, were nervous around him, or were trying to act like he was someone from the past.

For the first time in such a long time, Bucky felt truly.. Happy

 _What if they couldn't change Tony back?_

That thought continued to run through T'Challa's mind as he watched Tony. The child was shy, nervous, he didn't interact with them unless he had to, and tended to isolate himself with books, legos, or coloring. That thought hit him everytime he saw Tony acting this way, but it wasn't until two weeks later, when Natasha returned.

They had been in the living room, nearly everyone was there, except Bucky. Tony had been watching the television with rapt attention, Scott having gotten the child excited to see Big Hero 6. When the door slid open, revealing two guards and a familiar woman, though her hair was longer.

Being a curious four year old, Tony moved his head over to see what was going on, and then he gasped. The child instantly dropped everything, even the Cap'n doll, and ran over to Natasha, throwing his arms around her legs and hiding his face in her waist. Natasha quickly pulled the child up into her arms and held him close, rocking the little boy who relaxed immensely in her hold. Natasha also seemed to relax, closing her eyes and then opening them a second later as everyone walked in.

"What happened to his hair?" Natasha asked suspiciously as everyone walked in. Tony tensed up, as Clint rubbed his head and awkwardly said,"Um.. We don't know"

Natasha made a noise, her head already filling with theories. She then looked up at everyone, and said,"We need to talk"

Once they were all sitting down, Tony curled up and asleep in Natasha's arms, it seems he was already exhausted. Natasha was running her fingers through his hair, as she said,"I've spoken with several scientists, and a friend of Thor's who knows about magic. Nobody has any solutions, I don't think we'll be able to change him back anytime soon, maybe at all"

"So we'll be stuck taking care of that little brat forever?" Wanda snarled, and instantly regretted it as Natasha's eyes snapped towards her, eyes narrowing.

"Not forever, if Ross gets any more antsy I may take him on the run with me for a while if Ross tries to get him," Natasha said,"Which, in my opinion, will be much better for him then watching you get your ass blown off when your attitude finally gets you killed"

Wanda didn't know what to say, so she quickly lowered her head. T'Challa didn't even feel bad, so he just looked back at Natasha. "So what should we do?"

Natasha then declared,"Well, we've been treating this like something we could cure sooner than later, now we must treat it like something we may not be able to fix, we must treat Tony like an actual child, get him socialized, give him an education, we can't keep him isolated 'until we find a way'"

T'Challa smiled softly, glad he wasn't the only one who was thinking about this. "Of course, I had been thinking about that myself. How long will you be staying with us, Natasha?" He asked politely, making the woman look at them again.

"As long as I have to, to make sure that you guys have been doing, are doing, and will continue doing this right," She declared, and with the look in her eyes, nobody dared to argue against her, for they knew that she meant business.

And Clint totally didn't regret getting a bloody nose after he called her 'Nanny Nat'

That brought them to where they were today. T'Challa had taken Tony to the local park that weekend, where the local children tended to play. Tony was clutching to his pant leg and shyly peeking at the children across from them.

T'Challa gently said,"Little one, these are some of the local children here. Everyone, this is Anthony, or Tony for short, he's been staying with me for about a month now, and I was hoping he could come and play with you all, since he's never been able to play with kids his age"

The children's curious looks gave way to excitement at the thought of another friend to play with. "Of course, your majesty!" One of the older kids said excitedly, and then moved over to where Tony was. "My name is Aba, wanna play with us? We're playing tag"

"Tag?" Tony asked curiously, and the children nodded. Aba then darted forward, touching Tony's shoulder and yelling,"Tony's it!" The children instantly speedily dispersed, and Tony stared for a second. He then looked up nervously at T'Challa, desperately wanting to play but unsure if it was okay.

The king pushed the child forward gently, saying,"Go ahead, have fun" The little child shuffled over to the children after he spoke, and shyly joined the game. Aba seemed to understand the child's nervousness, as he pretending to be caught off guard. Tony touched his hand, and another child yelled,"Aba's it again!"

"Run!" The children squealed, a little girl taking Tony's hand and leading him away. This seemed to help Tony realize that he wasn't being outcasted, that he was actually a part of the group, a part of the game. Soon enough, the little brunette turned redhead was running around with the other children, speeding excitedly around the park. T'Challa kept a watchful eye on the boy, a huge smile playing on his face. Idly, he wondered if the old Tony Stark even got a chance to act like a child.

Watching the little boy now, he made the decision that, if they really wouldn't be able to change Tony back, then he would give the poor kid the best childhood he could ever ask for, the childhood he never got. He would do anything for him, anything to keep that innocent and carefree smile on his face for as long as possible. With that in mind, he sat back down, continuing to keep a watchful eye on the little fireball under his care, the happy smile on their faces never fading away.

Unbeknownst to either the child or the king, another person was keeping a careful, watchful eye on them.. One who was not looking to keep the peace, but to destroy it..


	5. Chapter 5

When it happened, they truly had been caught off guard. Nobody had been prepared, but that was exactly what they had wanted.

It was another week later, when the nerves of introducing Tony to other children and taking him outside of the palace (with less security) had started to fade.

T'Challa had been busy, so Natasha had taken Tony out. He was with Aba right now, both were by some flowers, holding some lady bugs on their fingers. She had been very pleased, though she didn't show it, that Tony was coming out of his shell. When he had first been changed, before she brought him to Steve, he was so shy, he wouldn't move or say anything unless he was talked to.

Seeing him talk to Scott, even if he got nervous for a bit, about Disney movies, draw flowers with Steve, read with T'Challa. It gave her hope that if they really couldn't find a way to change him back, he'd still be able to be happy and grow up better than he had in the past.

Natasha was relaxed for once, she didn't expect it to happen. Maybe it was because Wakanda was such a secure, independent country, or maybe it was just being around happy, innocent children; who had no need to be afraid.

But it was too late to try and change it, as the sound of gunshots rang through the air, shooting around the children. They screamed, several gunshots landing right in front of them. The gunshots moved in, Aba, Tony, and the other kids all ran away, until they were crowded together in fear.

Natasha had jumped out of her seat, but froze. They had rounded up the children, she was afraid that if she tried to fight that they would get shot, Tony could be hurt. The other parents around her sobbed, some trying to run forward before being stopped by others. Natasha placed her hand on her thigh, pressing the distress button on her communicator. She didn't know what this was, she needed help.

Then, the criminals appeared, their bodies surrounded in black, with large guns. You couldn't tell what they were, not a single sign on their entire body. They surrounded the group of terrified children, guns raised at the panicked adults.

"Citizens!" Once gargled voice yelled out, voice echoing through the deadly silent park. "We are not cowards, we will kill if you do not meet our demands," He said, his voice turning deadly serious.

Grabbing one of the children, and placing the back of the gun to their head, he yelled,"WHERE IS THE WINTER SOLDIER!?" The child was sobbing, painfully loud. Natasha felt fear. They were after Bucky, why did they want him? How did they know he was here!?

Nobody moved, because nobody in Wakanda had known that Team Cap was being hidden here. There was confusion, a wave through the crowd of it. But nobody said anything.

"Is nobody going to save these children?" The man asked,"Does nobody have anything to say?"

When nothing was said, just only more sobs from the child. The man shrugged and sighed. "Fine, I guess we'll just go through until someone wants to save them," He said, and went to pull the trigger.

Just as he did, a small black blur flew through the air and landed on the ground, exploding in the air, the smoke bomb covering the area. Landing in front of her was Steve, T'Challa, Clint, Sam, and Scott, all in their uniforms.

"Cap!" Natasha yelled,"They rounded up the kids, Tony's with them! They're going to kill them!"

"No they won't," Clint said, protectively and with a fatherly tone. "We won't let them"

The soldiers had run out of the smoke. One ran straight into the before being punched straight in the face by Steve.

T'Challa quickly said,"Natasha, Clint, Scott, with me. Steve, Sam, protect the kids, get them out of here"

The fight began. The soldiers didn't seem to know what to do with their leader down, and instead tried to shoot at attackers and innocent bystanders that were trying to run.

Steve and Sam ran over to the group of terrified children, barely able to see them. But they could see Tony's red hair, hiding against the older Aba. When he opened his blue eyes, they seemed to be glowing. When he saw Steve, his eyes widened. "Cap'n.." He whispered, recognizing him from the stuffy.

The other children shuddered in fear, before Sam said,"It's okay kids, we're going to get you to a safe place" In that moment, Sam didn't see Tony, he saw another terrified child, and he knew he needed to get them all out.

T'Challa knocked down another soldier, sending them crumbling to the ground. Natasha was with him, using her widow's bites. "They're here for Barnes, they took the kids hostage because of it," Natasha declared.

"They're not going to get him," T'Challa declared,"We're not going to let anyone go through that again" Whether he was referring to the events that occurred when Steve realized Bucky was still alive, or the struggle for him during the Accords, she did not know.

The leader had sat up, seeing the destruction that had happened since he'd fallen from the smoke bomb. He looked over, and saw Captain America. So they _were_ here, their employer hadn't been lying.

He discreetly crawled over to a nearby weapon, a large and dangerous rocket launcher. There was a building next to the group trying to escape, a tall one. He pulled up the launcher and shot, the rocket flying and smashing into the building.

An explosion rocked the building, causing nearby people to scream. Then, the building teetered, falling towards the group.

Natasha could only turn with T'Challa, gasping as the building fell at an alarming speed. "CAPTAIN! WATCH OUT!" The children and heroes turned around, and the two adults then moved, trying to cover the children with their wings and bodies. T'Challa and Natasha watched the building fall in horror, running over as fast as they could, only to freeze in shock, as a glow of blue filled their vision.

Sam and Steve had been prepared for the impact, but it never came. They heard the crashing, but nothing hit them. The children had stopped screaming, and their closed eyes were invaded with blue. Steve blinked, opening his eyes and turning to look up. Surrounding them was a glowing blue dome, a shield. The man looked around, but he didn't see anyone who could have done this..

Then, he looked down at the children, and realized who it was. It was Tony. His hands were held together against his chest, and glowing a bright blue, along with his teary eyes. Tony had made the shield, Tony had saved them, Tony had powers.

"Tony.." Steve had whispered in shock, watching the child shudder and shake, yet still keep the shield up. His glowing blue eyes stared at Steve with fear.

The lead soldier of the group and his other soldiers stared in shock as well, he had not been expecting something like this. He knew their target was Bucky, that's what the higher ups had wanted. But a child was more easily influenced, easy to control. And with as much power as the child had..

He then took his communicator and declared,"Change of plans, grab that kid, this is an opportunity we can't pass up"

The soldiers instantly moved into action. The leader moved, shooting another rocket, and making the children scream. Tony jumped, feeling the effect of the rocket against his shield. The shield fell, and the soldiers moved forward.

The children panicked, running in all different directions. Steve attacked one of the soldiers quickly, and Sam went after another one. A soldier, meanwhile, snuck through the bushes, jumping and grabbing the kid by the back of his shirt

Tony screamed in horror as he was lifted off the ground, kicking his legs and flailing his arms to try and get away. These bad people were trying to hurt Cap'n and Sam. They were going to try and hurt him too! "No no NO!" Tony yelled out,"Let me go! LET ME GO!"

Another surge of power ran through the child, and the soldier screamed as a blue blast from the small child hit him, turning into a large electric current, sending the people around it flying. The soldier felt the pain course through his body, Sam and Steve tumbling along with the red headed child, who crumpled in the grass, and didn't get up.

T'Challa and Natasha quickly ran over. Natasha ran to Tony, picking up the small child. He was limp in her arms, scrapes on his face, and bruises on his little body. She picked him up, and ran away from the fight. All the other citizens had escaped, Tony was injured, he was a child, she needed to get him away from the soldiers.

* * *

The others fought, and it seemed the soldiers came ill prepared. Aside from the first stunt, nothing too dangerous happened, but several of the criminals got away, including the leader. T'Challa was already angry, but this just made it worse.

To say he beat the shit out of those soldiers would be an understatement. The ones who didn't escape were beaten and bloody, before being taken into custody. The second they were gone, the heroes vanished as fast as they could. They didn't want anyone who hadn't already seen them to notice them and possibly cause T'Challa trouble.

They returned to the palace after splitting up, unsure if the soldiers had left people behind to watch them. T'Challa got back first, moving quickly to the hospital wing to try and find the two redheads.

Steve was right behind him when his nurses led him to the room. Tony looked pale, with bandages on his small body. Natasha was next to him, running her gentle fingers through his messy hair.

"He has powers.." Steve whispered obviously,"He saved us.. Why didn't he ever tell us about this before?"

Natasha looked at Steve like he was stupid. "Have you not been paying attention the entire time he's been here, Rogers? Have you not seen the signs?"

Steve didn't respond to that, staring silently. Natasha then frowned and said,"Steve, he was abused. Howard hit him, Howard _hurt_ him. The man you knew was not the one Tony knew. I doubt that he would take kindly to finding out his son was some type of mutant, he wasn't a very friendly with them. Tony was scared to tell us, all because of Howard."

The blonde frowned, guilt building up in his system. Before he could say anything, however, the child on the bed began to shift slightly. Tony's little nose scrunched up in pain, and then his blue eyes began to open slowly. The kid seemed a little groggy at first, looking around the white room wearily. However, the second his eyes caught sight of the three adults at his bedside, he panicked.

Tony let out a panicked shriek, scampering as close to the wall as he could. His skinny arms hugged himself tightly, his eyes glowing in fear. Natasha's trained eye saw the slight glow of Tony's eyes, and the terror encased in them. "Tony, baby," She began gently,"What's wrong?"

Tony's eyes flickered towards her for a split second, before returning to Steve. Natasha frowned, following his gaze. _Oh.. Steve is still in his suit.._ She realized. She turned back to Tony, watching his eyes fill with unshed tears. "M'sorry.." He whispered,"M'sorry.. Please don't hurt me.. Din't mean to.."

"Didn't mean to do what, little one?" T'Challa's deep voice cut into the conversation. "What do you think you did wrong?"

"I used the Bad Thing.." Tony whispered, his eyes never leaving Steve's person. "D-daddy said that.. That if I ever used the Bad Thing, that Cap'n America would punish me so bad I wouldn't ever use the bad thing again.."

The child's breath hitched, as if finally admitting the words his father told him was the straw that broke the camel's back. "M'sorry! I didn't mean to! I didn't! I'm not bad! I can be good! P-please don't hurt me!" The child begged, his voice seemed to send spikes of hot pain through everyone's hearts with every word he spoke.

Natasha turned her head to the side, as she hastily muttered,"Говард, черт возьми, ублюдок, тебе повезло, что ты мертв." Then, she turned back around, moving to try and comfort the little boy. But he wasn't having it, he simply buried his face deeper into his own arms, sobbing more.

For a minute, Steve watched helplessly, until he realized something. _Wait.. If Howard used me against Tony.. Then there's no reason why I couldn't fix this situation._ He firmly decided.

"Tony," He began, wincing at the violent flinch the child gave before looking at him. He ignored the twisting of his heart, and continued,"Your father was wrong, you're not in trouble. I would never punish you for using your powers. They aren't a bad thing, they make you very special."

Natasha's bright eyes looked towards him, and though they remained blank, she was truly thankful that Steve had said what he had. Almost instantly, confusion crossed the little boy's face. He sniffled for a moment, before he asked,"Special..?"

"Yes, little one, it's very special," T'Challa continued quickly, moving to sit next to Tony's other side. "Your powers saved many lives today, and you protected yourself from the bad people who tried to hurt you," He declared,"If you had not used your powers, many people could have died."

Tony's eyes were wide, taking in everything the adults were telling him with amazement. "So.. I was good?" He asked hopefully,"I'm not bad?"

"Of course not, Tony, you are more than just good," Natasha declared,"You were very brave, малютк, and we're all very proud of you."

"P-proud?" Tony croaked in shock, his eyes filling with hope. "Of me? Really?"

"Yes, really," Steve declared, smiling gently at the kid. Suddenly, Tony scrambled across the bed. He jumped off the edge, his arms wrapping around Steve's neck and his legs around the man's waist. His face buried itself in Steve's chest.

"I knew daddy was lying," The child declared,"Cap'n Merica' is too awesome to hurt kids."

There were a lot of things that needed to be done thanks to this new development. Tony's powers needed to be examined, Tony's body was in need of recovery, Wakanda's security needed to be checked, the attackers needed to be found, and so much more.

But for now, the three adults were willing to just be with the child, and help nurture that fragile heart with the strength and courage he already proved he had. They could have sat there forever..

However..

A familiar woman suddenly walked into the room, and said,"Your highness, someone is here.. You must speak to them _immediately._ "

Okoye's tone was enough to make T'Challa nervous. He looked at Natasha, who gave him a small nod. Then, at Rogers and the child in his hold. Tony's curious blue eyes seemed to sense his nervousness, and glowed with reassurance.

"Of course, I'm coming," He promised,"I'll be back soon Tony, I promise." Tony nodded in return to his declaration, and whispered,"Okay.."

Okoye and T'Challa quickly left together. The woman seemed nervous, and it made T'Challa grow tense. He realized where they were heading, it was the conference room. Who could possibly want to see him right after his country was attacked?

They walked through the door, then, his soul froze, and his dark eyes widened. Oh no.. How had he not thought of this?

Sitting on the other edge of the conference table was Thaddeus Ross.

"King T'Challa.. Please, have a seat, we have much to discuss."

* * *

Unknown Location

* * *

"And that is what happened, sir," The soldier explained, his hands clasped behind his back and staring at the form of his boss in front of him, who was staring at the screens, all of which showed the battle that had occurred in Wakanda earlier.

At his leader's silence, the soldier grew nervous. "I.. I apologize for the lack of judgement, sir, I promise it won't happen again," He declared, lowering his head.

At first, his leader didn't respond. He made a noncommittal noise, pressing a button on the holographic screen. "I have a question for you, soldier, and answer me honestly," He demanded firmly.

Slightly surprised, the soldier quickly answered,"Yes sir."

"Answer me this.. If you had spent hours searching for an old, certain type of mineral, but found a brand new, even better mineral than the one you had been searching for already, which would you go for first?"

The solder thought for a moment, before he replied,"Um.. The newer mineral, sir. You could always search for the old one once more, but the new mineral could be taken away, and you may never find it again."

"Do you see where I am going with this, soldier?" The boss asked again, his head turning to face the soldier. The man in question flinched, but quickly nodded, afraid of what may happen if he didn't answer.

The leader turned back around, and looked back at the screen. "Cancel all searches for the Winter Soldier, I want that child now," He demanded.

"Yes sir!" The soldier said quickly, turning and running out of the room to go and inform the rest of the organization.

Meanwhile, the leader remained staring at the screen. Displayed on it was the image of the red haired child, with the amazing blue power glowing in his hands. "So much power in such a small being.." He whispered to the image on the screen, his hand tracing the image ever so gently. "Ah.. Yes.. You are perfect, little one.."

"With your power, we'll be unstoppable."


End file.
